


The Strong One

by clashofqueens



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Identity Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-19
Updated: 2013-04-19
Packaged: 2017-12-08 22:04:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/766541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clashofqueens/pseuds/clashofqueens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper's the strong one, so Virginia steps away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Strong One

**Author's Note:**

> trigger warning for possible mental issues

Pepper’s the strong one, she thinks. Virginia was here first, the person she was before Stark Industries, but Pepper’s stronger then Virginia ever will be. And Virginia’s the one they forget, the papers only mentioning Tony’s assistant as “Pepper Potts.” Even her mother has taken to calling her Pep, years have passed since she last called her daughter Ginny. It goes to show how far Tony’d managed to weasel his way into her head before finally coming into her bed.

Tony’s the one who created Pepper, in a way. A week after being promoted he’d been drunk and called her Miss Pepper instead of Miss Potts during an interview, and Virginia had been so nervous around her new boss she didn’t bother to correct him. When he’d managed to sober up a bit, she remembered Tony throwing his head back and laughing. “It suits you more. All that fiery hair, you’re a Pepper, not a… well whatever your name is.” He’d waved her off with a flick of the hand, that was just who Tony was then and she’d scuttled away in her practical loafers.

That was something Virginia was, practical. She never paid more for a pair of shoes then she did for a month of food. Never bought into the idea that cut and fit of a pant suit was worth more then $100, never wore matching panties and bras meant to push up and emphasize what little cleavage she had. Virginia was terminally practical, when the bills started piling up in her pursuit of a law degree, she’d marched into Stark Industries along with ten other companies and applied to the secretarial pool. And thus, two months later, Pepper was born. And Pepper was fun in ways that Virginia wasn’t, not impractical, but more… aware. Pepper knew that the cut and fabric of a good pant suit was the difference between respect and a brush off. Pepper knew how a subtle change of position gives away what the man across the table is thinking. And it’s Pepper who sends in Virginia notice of withdrawal from UCLA Law School, Pepper doesn’t have the time between keeping Tony on time and put together and making sure she removes the trash from the house every morning.

Over time she becomes more used to Pepper, to the woman Tony and the world sees her as. She forgets that Virginia had dreams, of becoming partner at a huge firm, of children and a husband and a life that didn’t involve having to sweet talk various law enforcement officers in random police stations around the world into letting her boss out of jail so he can make an important meeting and throwing strange women out of his house every morning. Sometimes she remembers though, and she feels this odd sense of disappointment in herself, in giving up her dreams for this man and his needs. But Tony would fall apart without Pepper, his glue and a good portion of his mind at times. No one else can recite his social security number on demand, that along with a billion under inane details of Anthony Stark’s life that are carefully noted and filed away in Pepper’s mind, and before long he’s rarely able to surprise her at all.

When he comes back from Afghanistan such a changed man, it shakes up her more then she thought anything Tony did could. His time away had allowed Virginia to start to emerge again. No board meeting meant little need for well-made and elegant business wear and five inch heels, and the absence of her constant need to attend to Tony’s needs meant she had the time to look over Virginia’s law books, and the night before the call, even checking out possible law schools, what she’d saved during those years with Stark could pay for college ten times over.

But Tony came back and built the Ironman suit, and she didn’t quite know who to be, Pepper was too cool and efficient, Virginia to nervous and timid. When Tony asked her to check on Obi, it was Pepper that managed to get herself out and to Agent Coulson, and while Virginia was worried sick about Tony, Pepper pushed the button that could have killed him.

Everyday she reminds herself that Pepper is the strong one. That Pepper is the one that Tony fell in love with, and if she wants to keep him, Pepper is the one she has to choose.


End file.
